Patchy~ wrote: » One thing that really irks me purely for the ignorance (again not a personal thing at anyone!) is the general atheist idea of "hawhawhaw bearded guy in the sky", when no one describes any kind of God that way. Some people believe in spirits, no one says "hawhaw ghosts haunted houses", its the same idea. I dont really think much about how I'd imagine a God but clearly he's not sitting up there in the atmosphere and if he isnt human he'd hardly have a beard. :rolleyes:
finality wrote: » A few years ago I used to be all "haha there's no god and some people think there's a god that's pathetic hurhur," but then I realised that there really is nothing pathetic or stupid about faith. I don't think it matters if there's a god or not, as long as people believe there is, their faith is what actually has an effect on the world. If someone's faith helps them to be a better person or makes them happy, how is that faith not a good thing? I'd really hate to destroy someone's faith, at the end of the day WHAT would that achieve? That's why I don't like Richard Dawkins, going out of your way to ruin people's faith just isn't admirable.
rkeano5 wrote: » Patchy~ wrote: » One thing that really irks me purely for the ignorance (again not a personal thing at anyone!) is the general atheist idea of "hawhawhaw bearded guy in the sky", when no one describes any kind of God that way. Some people believe in spirits, no one says "hawhaw ghosts haunted houses", its the same idea. I dont really think much about how I'd imagine a God but clearly he's not sitting up there in the atmosphere and if he isnt human he'd hardly have a beard. :rolleyes: As a proud atheist I will keenly contest that point . The whole human characterization of god came about solely as a result of the religious. God as the ''father'', ''loving all of us'', et al. are unmistakably human concepts. It seems the LC off topic thread has finally become off topic
rkeano5 wrote: » Btw, without this thread become unamiable (that would be terrible), I have to say that the religious concept of ''faith'' is certainly not a positive attribute imho. Believing something with no particular evidence isn't a virtue in my eyes. But hey, whatever gets you to sleep at night.
Togepi wrote: » I just remember starting to not believe in god because, if there was one, how is there so much bad in the world? But yeah, I'm not a huge fan of organised religion. Lots of people who go to mass get nothing from it. They just go because they're expected to, lots of them don't believe, and the prayers are a bit weird. Not everyone wants to pray for whatever the prayers even say/mean, which is hard to decipher because for most Catholics, praying is just rhyming off the prayers as quickly as possible. No meaning whatsoever. Ignorant too towards anyone who can't say them that fast! It just gives the impression people want mass to end as soon as possible. And as I've said before I'm totally against baptising children. Let them make their own minds up about religion.
finality wrote: » Why is it not positive? Who does it harm? And not talking about extremists here :P
Dwellingdweller wrote: » Yes, it is pretty relaxing. Faith is important in people's lives, in everyones, I agree with ya. It just depends what you put your faith into, I feel like the church and most of organised religion is a waste of energy and faith because for the most part the church is a quasi-spiritual body which exists mainly in order to exert influence and power over the community and society of which it is a part. That's why I'm against Catholicism (in practice) and most strands of Islam (in practice) and Hinduism (in practice). Buddhism, not so much, as you said, faith is important. Faith in Buddhism teaches you acceptance, peace, openness... which, as you can see, is a work in progress for me. :P I'm just trying to strike a balance tho, Buddhists sometimes cut themselves off from the world by their faith, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. Back to my point tho. The bible says a lot of very true shít. So does the Qu'ran and all that other crap, but in practice, all these religions are are ways for certain people (the bishop, the mullah, the witch doctor, whatever) to exert influence over a given society. It's a wild cynical outlook, I know, but it's my .02$... and sorry if I'm coming across as a bit of a dick, I just feel quite strongly about this stuff. Also there are ways for communities to be interdependent and supportive of one, and to help each other in times of grieving and difficult without the interference of a central body like the Vatican, check this out. Oh yea, when I called the whole idea of the Christian God a joke, etc, that was in no way me trying to take the piss out of their members (though there are some pretty nasty sheep in that flock). That was just an observation about the fact that there's a gigantic, massively powerful organisation called the Catholic Church dedicated to manipulating the idea of God so that they can manipulate people also. That's the joke. Not that people have faith or anything like that. I actually think faith in some deity or belief is a key part of life for everyone, but the way the Catholic Church twists the myth of God into a way to control people is, imho, mad.
Mysteriouschic wrote: » Religion is very male dominated too. The priests , pope , bishop all male. Not that I'd want to be one or that bothered. But if a woman did they wouldn't be allowed. The church I went to there was so much singing to . I can't stand the hymn's as I didn't like singing. Does anyone remember Sunday school for kids? I don't know if they still do them.
JonnyMcNamee wrote: » I completely agree with ya, I don't even think a full reform could save the church now, it's gone to pure s**te. And I do agree with you about leaders too. Glad ya cleared that up.. I misunderstood and thought you were bashing anyone with faith
Togepi wrote: » Also, Patchy, look what you've done to the thread! :P
PictureFrame wrote: » On the topic of Religion, I remember getting kicked out of Religion early this year by my psycho Religion/Geography Teacher. She asked about our beliefs, (not in a nice way but more of a perturbing, condescending way). She literally went around to each person and said:'So what do you believe in?' And then stared each individual out of it until they answered. My Friend told her she was Agnostic I think (Live your life without harming others and such), and she laughed at her. Really mocked and sniggered like :mad: When she asked me I told her I was a believer in God, however there was a big difference between God and Catholicism in my mind. The whole thing of the bishops in big white hats looking at everybody in disdain as they bow before them and calls them 'father' or whatever truly sickens me.I then told her that a lot of organised religion is just a lot of people looking for an easy way out of getting their sins forgiven (by waltzing to a mass for 30 minutes on a Sunday) rather than attempting to help others and improve the world. She had a face on her like a slapped fish. I really hate those 'uber religious people' or so they like to think, who in fact look down on everybody else and class others below them because they don't exercise their religion as strongly as them, or place any emphasis on religion in their life's. That's what's really wrong with the Catholic church IMO, too much respect for those who really haven't done much to earn it. And don't even get me started on Priests with their brand new cars driving like some type of pimp or something around the place. In the area I go to school, the priest had an 11 Toyota Avensis (greyish) and never took the protective seat covers off the seat, came back this year, right after the Christmas holidays- he had a brand new 2012 Toyota Avensis (greyish once again). Total greed and unnecessary spending of money when there's what, a child dying every 4 seconds in the 3rd world? Priests seriously need to get off whatever power drive their on IMO. I could actually discuss this all night, it has been the topic of many passionate Debates from our Debate teams regular meets among ourselves! The banter does be something serious :pac:
Martin_94 wrote: » I'm actually hoping this comes up as a personal essay question on paper 1, it's way easier to write a good essay on something you feel strongly about.
rkeano5 wrote: » Me too. Although I'd be a bit worried about writing about politics/religion/drugs, as I could be insultingly extremist. I'd probably inadvertently offend the examiner.:o
Dwellingdweller wrote: » You'd better hope your examiner's an atheist. :pac:
Eathrin wrote: » Speaking of which, what kind of stuff comes up on paper 1? I don't think we've ever really looked at it, the only paper 1 I ever did was at the mocks.
